1. Field of the Invention
The label printer of this invention prints from a stencil. The stencils are preferably cut with the desired label indicia by a typewriter. Some labels contain the logo and shipping information of the sender as well as the name and address of the desired recipient. Such stencils would be substantially fully used over their lengths and require labels of a length similar to the length of the stencils. However, in many instances it is only desired to print the name and address of the addressee and in certain specialized uses it is only necessary and desirable to print an address of the recipient. This of course provides much more extra space on the standard size stencil as used with this same label printer. The printing of the stencil indicia is usually made on a pressure sensitive tape with a backing covering the adhesive until the label is desired to be applied to the envelope or package on which it is placed. The label printer is capable of printing labels of different lengths and this is controlled by the cooperation of a platen roller with the printing cylinder. Label stock is fed between the printing roller and its cooperative platen roller. When the rollers are in continuous engagement they act to pull label stock therebetween and the length of the labels will be the same whether the printing indicia on the stencil is short or long. The present label printer includes means to separate the cooperative rollers for selected periods of time to thus effect an intermittent feed out of label stock which can be made to correspond with the length of the indicia to be printed on the label. A cam is employed to move the platen roller away from the printing cylinder for that period of time when it is desired to stop the feeding of label stock between the rollers.
The present invention concerns the printing of short labels and further the utilizing of a single stencil to carry multiple label indicias thereon with mechanism on the label printer to optionally select which of the label indicias on the stencil shall be imprinted on the label stock.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The J. R. Thomas U.S. Pat. No. 2,713,304 discloses a label printer generally of the type employed in the subject invention. This early Thomas patent describes an adjustable cam to control label feed out length in a manner similar to the label feed out of the present invention. Weber Marking Systems, Inc., the assignee of the present application for patent, is also the owner of this Thomas patent. Weber Marking has manufactured and sold a label printer embodying the patented features of the Thomas patent for many years.
The Cole U.S. Pat. No. 3,714,893, also owned by Weber Marking Systems, Inc. represents an improved modification of the early Thomas label printer. Cole shows a label printing machine with an adjustable rotor cam for controlling separation of the printing cylinder and its cooperative rotary platen to provide for the accurate feeding of the desired amount of label stock.
The Roser U.S. Pat. No. 3,735,700 is also owned by Weber Marking Systems, Inc. and represents another improved feature on a stencil printing machine. In this patent the label stock used in the printer is accurately fed by a tire ring drive.
All of these earlier patents are directed to label printers and to the means for feeding label stock but no one of them shows a means for optionally indexing by rotating an entire cam rotor of fixed conformation to effect the separate printing of any one of plural indicias cut in a single stencil in combination with the controlled feed out of label stock commensurate with the length of the indicia being printed.